Ikumi couldn't help but shiver at the look Todoroki gave Kacchan, the ice Quirk user staring Kacchan down. For his part, Kacchan just grinned back, small explosions popping in his palms. "Good to see ya, Candycane!"

She managed a grin, gripping the shield bracer Hatsume had discarded for being too large and heavy for an ordinary patron. Truthfully she hadn't expected Todoroki to show up so early into the match - there were still ten minutes to go on the clock, after all, and it would have made sense for him to come later - but she knew that Todoroki would come at some point.

Truthfully, Ikumi suspected the main reason why he hadn't charged their base immediately was because he had been making his own as impenetrable as possible. His territory looked like an ice sculptor's paradise, thick, sheer walls blocking easy access to his flag. If he got their flag and got it to his base, then his team would only have to worry about a bottleneck of opponents, rendering numbers useless.

Todoroki's icy stare intensified. "If you give up the flag, this will be less painful for all of us."

Kacchan's grin split his face. "You want our flag, huh?!"

He slammed one fist into his palm, a small burst of smoke and flame coming off his hands. "Then fucking take it."

Iida gasped in outrage but Todoroki's expression never wavered. With nothing but a glance at his partner, the red and white haired boy created a wave of ice, aiming to sweep over Kacchan and bind him in place while Iida accelerated to grab the ball.

Even after all the times Ikumi had seen it in action, Todoroki's Quirk was awe-inspiring. Ikumi sucked in a deep breath, feeling her Quirk build up and, as it came closer, Kacchan dodged to the side.

The wall of ice that was crashing towards her was definitely intimidating. But she was ready for it. At the last second Ikumi exhaled, a massive wall of fire pouring from her mouth and hitting the freezing wave head on, a loud HISS of steam coming from their clash of elements. Iida was forced to change course to avoid the steam, barely dodging Shoji's attempt to hit him with a net gun.

Through the haze of steam, she could see Kacchan rocket forwards, aiming for Todoroki's left side. "I thought I told you that that shit wouldn't work on us, huh, Candycane?!"

Ikumi sucked in another breath as Kacchan got closer to Todoroki. Ikumi had been watching Todoroki closely over the Sports Festival and in class, so she was confident in her analysis of his abilities. If she was wrong about how his Quirk worked…

Fortunately, Todoroki twisted, trying to reach Kacchan with his right arm already starting to mist up. But her best friend didn't let up, constantly shifting to the other boy's left. The red and white haired boy kept trying to hit Kacchan with his Quirk, but he was close enough that any ice attempt he made would hit himself as well, technically eliminating himself in any attempt.

Ikumi couldn't help but grin as her analysis of Todoroki's Quirk proved true, the red and white haired boy being slowly forced away from their base. She knew that Todoroki had fire as well as ice, having seen him clean up excess ice from Heroics classes. However, he hadn't used it during said exercises to fight - only to melt leftover ice. It seemed that he could only use ice on his right side and fire on his left, and wasn't willing to use fire against people.

She wasn't sure if he could only use one element at a time or if he didn't want to burn their classmates - a worry she completely understood. Whatever the case, targeting his left side was the smartest option, making it harder for him to make his ice efficiently.

If they couldn't capture either of them, then they could stall until time was finished. And with all the ice Todoroki was throwing up, it would make it harder for other teams to get close as well.

—

In the commentator's box, Hizashi grinned at his co-host as they oversaw the spectacle below. "MAN, I'VE GOTTA SAY, THESE KIDS'RE REALLY GOIN' AT IT!"

Next to him, Vlad King nodded with a serious look on his face. "You can say that again. Every student out there's giving it their all to stand at the top." He paused, then sighed. "Especially 1-A."

Hizashi nodded furiously, watching the tag match below. All eyes were on Bakugou's team, especially with all of the ice Todoroki was throwing around. "THAT'S CERTAINLY TRUE, VLAD! NOT ONLY DOES TEAM BAKUGOU HAVE TO HOLD OFF TODOROKI-"

A blast of ice from the red and white haired teen caught his eye, and the blonde MC grinned as he saw Bakugou dodge it, going for Todoroki's left side yet agai, "-BUT THEY HAVE TO HOLD OFF EVERY OTHER TEAM AS WELL!"

Though he had to admit, the Hatsume girl was terrifying, especially when she managed to hit Iida with a net. With his teammate captured, Todoroki was forced to back away from attacking Bakugou's team, having to wait for Iida to reach the jail before he could tag him back in.

"Certainly, securing their flag would guarantee a pass into the next round - though there is another competitor with a similar win condition under her control," Vlad KIng observed.

"TRUE - WE CAN'T FORGET ABOUT TEAM ASHIDO, WHO HAS DEFENDED THEIR TERRITORY FROM ALL COMERS AS WELL!" Hizashi grinned as he looked over at the devastation Ashido's team had made.

—

Despite her uneasy stomach from using her Quirk so much, Ochako couldn't help but grin when she managed to tag Tsuyu as she stared at their base. Laughing a bit, she waved for the frog girl to go to the prison area. "Sorry Tsuyu! Better luck next time!"

Tsuyu waved her off with a slight smile. "Fair enough - but next time we're going to get that flag."

She paused, looking at what Ochako and the rest of Ashido's team had done to defend their flag. "Though I can't help but feel that your base is unfair."

Ochako almost agreed - she hadn't expected Midnight to allow it. When the match had started and Mina had blitzed any attackers with sheer speed, Kamakiri had sliced the stadium's concrete into slabs for Ochako to use her Quirk. She had then moved the thick concrete slabs into a crude fort almost completely covering the flag, leaving an opening in case that loophole had been patched. A quick application of Mina's acid when she had a chance, and the whole structure was as secure as it could be.

"Not according to Midnight sensei it isn't!" Kirishima grinned, before glaring down Tetsutetsu. "Well, well, if it isn't my fated rival…"

Tetsutetsu just grinned, banging his fists together with a metallic clang. "Bring it, faker!"

While they fought, Kamakiri looked over at Ochako, blades temporarily retracted. "Think we need more walls to cover the base?"

Humming, she shook her head as she watched for more attackers. "Nah, we should be good. It'll be pretty hard for them to break through."

Especially since Mina's acid had melted so much of the surrounding concrete, making it harder to find reliable footing. Combined with the shallow pits where they had carved

He looked it over, then gave a short nod. "Suppose that's true." Kamakiri managed to tag Ojiro before he could even get close. "And that's… 4 tags for me?"

Mina shot over, a trail of pink lightning in her wake. "Nice one Kamakiri! Too bad I'm on thirteen tags!"

Ochako pouted at their captain. "Hey! Leave some for the rest of us!"

She pouted when Mina stuck her tongue out at her. Still, she managed to tag another person, the jet black and white haired boy slumping off in defeat.

—

In his townhouse and outside of his ceremonial robes, the Grand Shepherd watched the Sports Festival with disgust. Seeing mutants being treated like they were the same as human beings like this was just the most obvious sign of Japan's decline.

U.A was a source of modest frustration for him. Back when mutants were treated as the subhumans they were, U.A had been respectable. Then the Creatures and their lying ways had infected society at large - and suddenly the rational response to seeing a mutant was considered 'evil.'

Once they saw the light, they would surely change their methods to be more in line with correct thinking. Until that day came, the CRC had to hide in the shadows, pushing down their distaste for the sinners until the Great Purge.

Still, keeping an eye on their future Heroes and graduates of U.A was nothing but good intel. It made it easier to save these lost souls from themselves if they could find the weak links. He could stomach seeing a few Creatures, especially if he knew how they could purge them easier.

But letting that subhumanmake a presentation to the whole country was just another example of the degeneracy that Japan - no, the world was falling to. He would have to write a sermon for his flock later, to clean the poison of these insipid words.

"U.A's really gone downhill, ever since they allowed animals to compete with humans," his second in command commented drily.

The Grand Shepherd shook his head. "U.A went downhill when an animal became the Principal," he responded.

His lieutenant simply shrugged. "Still, their standards have seriously slipped if a Creature is the highest scoring applicant."

"She may have had her score adjusted," another member of his inner circle responded, glaring at the screen. "Wouldn't be the first time something like that cheated a hard worker out of their rightful place."

It wasn't impossible to manage, but it was a problem for another time. "We may have to make an example of her at a later time," the Grand Shepherd mused.

It would be a huge risk, but having the supposed 'highest scoring student' at U.A go on a rampage would surely show Japan the truth. Though it would take a lot of careful planning to pull off, especially since the League of Villains' attack had failed to kill any of the Hero brats.

—

Denki couldn't help but wince when he saw the bullshit the other teams were using to defend their base. Mina's team just built a fort to cover their flags, Midoriya and Bakugou had teamed up to crush everybody - and then there was Todoroki's winter wonderland on top of that.

"Man, am I glad me and my team aren't going for those bases," he muttered to himself.

"Kind of terrifying, right?" A lazy voice drawled from Denki's left.

Denki blinked as he turned to see the purple haired guy from Gen Ed standing there with a grin on his face. Then he hurriedly got into a fighting position, electricity sparking along his arms.

The purple haired guy didn't seem phased, instead looking at Denki's shoe with a surprised look on his face. "By the way, your shoe's untied."

"It is?"

Everything went black.

—

Inko shook her head in wonder as Katsuki and Ikumi held Todoroki and Iida off, the heterochromatic boy looking frustrated as they did so. "They're certainly getting creative with this event, aren't they?"

"Gotta give them credit - some of this shit's wild!" Mitsuki cackled.

"I'm pretty sure that they've never had anything quite as crazy as this before," Hisashi grinned at the screen, watching another student hurriedly run to the jail to bust a teammate out.

One skull-faced boy had turned a large section of his turf into a swampy area, a hapless Sato trying desperately to swim out of what he had thought was solid ground. A short boy with purple balls for hair had created a veritable maze of balls, anybody stuck to them having to go to the jail after Ikumi's homeroom teacher cancelled the effects of his Quirk on them. One base had the ball enlarged to the size of an exercise ball, making it harder for attackers to get away without the ball being stolen back. And another girl with vines for hair had made an impressive wall of thorns using her Quirk, while a boy with a speech bubble for a head was creating words to block another student from tagging her.

Admittedly, the most impressive structures were what Ashido and Todoroki's team had constructed. Ashido's team had created a bunker to hide their flag but Todoroki had created a frozen maze. Glistening ice walls blocked easy access from most angles and the main road through was filled with hazards made by the Yaoyorozu girl and the Tokoyami boy. Mitsuki laughed when a short, round boy with grey hair gingerly stepped around the caltrops scattered around, only to get punched by a dark, shadowy fist coming from the depths of Todoroki's ice palace.

In short, the whole arena was utterly chaotic. Students were running in twos or all as one if they had lost their points, trying to reclaim their own flags or the flags of others.

KRACK!

"HOLY - SOMETHING JUST HAPPENED IN ASHIDO'S PART! VLAD, DID YOU CATCH THAT?!"

"I don't think it got caught on camera - but what did get caught is that Ashido has been tagged by Monoma Neito from 1-B," the other teacher responded.

As one, they blinked, stunned when a small burst of wind came from Ashido's base. "What happened there?" Inko asked, seeing the distressed look in the young girl's eyes as she went for the jail area, holding her hand close to her chest and wincing in pain.

Hisashi shrugged. "Beats me."

Inko couldn't help but worry as she saw Ikumi narrowly dodge a strand of tape shot at her, managing to tag the grinning boy as she did so. The pink haired girl and Shoji looked like they were busy as well, their respective weapons snagging sneakier opponents while Katsuki and Ikumi deflected the most confident attackers. "Do you think Ikumi and Katsuki can hold out until the end?"

"Of course they can-"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the crack of ice rapidly freezing on screen. Hisashi winced as he saw the Todoroki boy casually take out a group of other students trying to come close to Ikumi's base. "Looks like he's back for a second attempt."

—

Shouto took a deep breath as he gave the opposition a once over, before turning to Iida. "Alright, Iida. While they're occupied-"

"Understood!" Iida boomed, turning back to run to their base.

As Iida sprinted back to their base, snatching a ball from a frozen opponent as he did, Shouto turned his attention to Bakugo. The blonde's eyes narrowed suspiciously as they stared each other down. "What the hell are you planning, Scarface?

Shouto didn't respond to the jibe, instead focusing on capturing Bakugou as quickly as possible. Once more, a wave of ice flew from his right side, and again his opponent went to the left to dodge. Shouto tried once more to hit Bakugou with ice, while he waited for the others to arrive.

The pink haired girl grinned menacingly, hefting some oversized cannon. "Oh man, holding off somebody as powerful as you with my Babies… Investors, are you watching?!"

As he dodged the resulting blob of what looked like chewing gum while Shoji was occupied with holding off the 1-B girl who could enlarge her hands, Midoriya suddenly paused, looking over to Shouto's base. Her eyes went wide.

Ah, she picked up on it.

She turned to Bakugou with a panicked expression. "Kacchan, Iida's coming with help! Try to cut him off!"

Shouto would give Bakugou a small smidgen of respect for listening to Midoriya. With a snarl, he blasted backwards, then tried to fire up his jetpack and failed. Bakugou glared at the offending piece of technology. "The fuck-"

"That bit seemed important," Shouto said dully, pointing to the exhaust port of the jetpack - which, courtesy of his mother's Quirk, was covered in a thick coating of ice. "So I broke it."

"My poor Baby!" The other girl howled, sounding like he'd stabbed her in the stomach.

Midoriya pursed her lips, breathing a tiny stream of fire at the iced over port to try and thaw the jetpack. As soon as it had half thawed Bakugou was off like a rocket.

Unfortunately for them, they were too late. With a roar of his engines, Iida was there - and with their other teammate to boot.

"WHAT'S THIS?! IIDA WAS GRABBING A TEAMMATE TO MAKE THIS A 3 VS 4! IT'S CERTAINLY A BOLD STRATEGY, BUT CAN IT PAY OFF?!"

"Todoroki's not completely risking the points his team has already gathered, but is focusing on taking that first place by any means necessary. This might be enough to break past the teamwork of Bakugou and Midoriya."

"Thank you for carrying me here, Iida," Yaoyorozu nodded gratefully to their teammate. Locking eyes with Midoriya, her skin sparked with the red light of her Quirk.

Iida just nodded grimly. "Hopefully it was not too bumpy a ride."

Earlier…

Shouto looked over his chosen teammates. "I've chosen this team because we will have the best mixture of offence and defence," he stated flatly.

He had wanted to recruit Midoriya for his team, but Bakugou had forced her to be on his team in the most arrogant way he could. How else could he interpret Bakugou's statement that, "As far as I'm concerned, you're already on my team"?

After seeing that, he'd hardened his heart - he would just have to beat them both. It didn't feel right to eliminate Midoriya because of that, but either way, he was going to have to beat her and everybody else in the tournament. That was the only way he could show Endeavour that he didn't need his power to be a Hero.

He turned to Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami. "When the match starts, I'll make some walls with my Quirk. Yaoyorozu, I need you to make some traps to slow people down, and any other items that might be useful for our assault. With Tokoyami providing backup, you will be more than able to defend the base."

Yaoyorozu nodded stiffly. "I-I know that my Quirk shines defensively. But if it's not too bold, I already have some ideas for getting past Midoriya and Bakugou that I think will work more effectively than trying a frontal assault."

Shouto wanted to say that those plans would be unnecessary but after losing first place to the explosive blonde and the class president, he wasn't going to discard any way of beating Bakugou. "If Iida and I cannot get past them, then use whatever you see fit. Tokoyami," he turned to the crow headed boy, "you should stay defending due to Midoriya and Bakugou countering your Quirk."

Tokoyami nodded sagely. "Dealing with two powerful lights is currently beyond my dark power." Dark Shadow sniggered at that, earning a glare from his user.

"So you plan to stagger the attack if it doesn't work the first time! Good thinking, Todoroki!" Iida exclaimed. "So once you are done with those ice walls, we will go for Bakugou's team directly?"

Shouto gave a short nod. "With my ice and your speed, we should be able to beat Bakugou's team. Otherwise, I'll trust your judgement."

Yaoyorozu frowned. "Just one question. Are you going to use your fire side in this match? It would make it easier to win-"

"No." Seeing Yaoyorozu pause, Shouto realised that he said that in a harsher tone than he had anticipated and tried to tone himself down. "In battle, I refuse to use my fire."

She exchanged an uneasy glance with Iida, then sighed. "If you insist, Todoroki."

Throwing a wall of ice up to hinder other competitors, Shouto turned to focus on Bakugou. Shouto could tell that his father would be furious because, once more, he wasn't using Endeavour's fire. But that didn't matter.

All that mattered was taking first place.

—

Momo didn't have a moment to breathe when Bakugou went for her and Iida, grinning wildly. Iida tried to pull her with him but Bakugou just exploded in midair to try and tag them. She was barely able to create a shield in his path to block him from tagging her. As he went for her side, she managed to twist around his hand, barely managing to hit him with the contents of a bottle she had created with him in mind.

His eyes narrowed as he stumbled back. "The fuck is this shit then?" Bakugou's left hand flared up to push him back… but his right hand, still wet with her chosen chemical, didn't activate his Quirk, sending him into a tumble as the unbalanced explosion sent him to the ground. While he was shaken up, Momo managed to tag him.

"W-WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!"

Midoriya's eyes widened and she stared at Momo admiringly. "Was that an antiperspirant?"

Momo smiled at her, before turning to Bakugou. "This was the safest option I have for neutralising your Quirk, Bakugou."

Bakugou glared at her. "You got me that time, Ponytail. Just don't expect that shit to work on me again." With that, he stomped off to the jail area, though not before throwing one last comment over his shoulder. "Kick her ass, Midori!"

Midoriya nodded, taking up a fighting stance. Her eyes shone with determination as she stared down the others. "We just have to hold out for a few minutes longer!"

Momo couldn't help but smile, even as she readied another item. When she had first seen how Hatsume had outfitted her teammates, Momo had felt like kicking herself for not thinking to do something like that. If she had thought ahead to give Iida or Todoroki some items like that, then maybe the first attack would have worked.

Then she shook herself. No point in worrying about what had already happened. Instead, their priority was taking that first place marker, and proving they had what it took to be Heroes to everybody watching.

Especially since she had taken the time to create extra items for this fight. It wasn't going to be like the match she had fought Midoriya in before - this time she had an idea of how to win. She managed a determined smile, then pressed ahead to try and win.

Iida zoomed around their base, trying to find an opening where Shoji's net guns couldn't hit him, one set of his arms firing while others were loading more cartridges into his guns.

Todoroki, meanwhile, was being pressured by the pink haired girl, a snarl of vengeance on her face. "Apologise for damaging my Babies!" She demanded, firing more globs of pink goop at him.

Momo winced as she pulled out the next bottle she'd created after sorting out the defences around their base. "Sorry, Midoriya!" She called, throwing it in the larger girl's face. Instinctively, Midoriya threw her arm over her face, blocking the stuff from hitting her in the eyes. Then she dropped to the ground, hands clamped over her nose.

Not that Momo could blame her - even from where she was standing, she could smell the peppermint. Despite the effects she couldn't help but be proud - it had taken a lot of research and experimentation before she could create it on the fly. Hopefully it wasn't too debilitating.

"WHAT'S THIS?! A STINK BOMB AGAINST MIDORIYA?! EFFECTIVE, I'LL GRANT YOU, BUT IS IT ENOUGH?"

It probably wasn't - even now, Midoriya was trying to get back on her feet. Not taking any chances, Momo ran forwards, trying to get into the base. Shoji tried to get her with a net, but a metal paddle sprang from her arm, snagging the net before it could touch her. She was almost over the line-!

But just as she got there, a hand tagged her, a vaguely familiar face pushing past her. "Well, well, well!"

The blonde boy from 1-B grinned at her, his hand already on the ball. As she stared, he only laughed further. "My, is it so surprising that 1-B would snatch these points right from under your noses while you fought? How presumptuous!"

He sneered, a greyish slime coming from his hand, smoking when it hit the ground beneath him. "You've hogged the limelight up until now with those antics. But now… It's 1-B's time to shine!"

AN: Holy shit did this take longer than expected.

Sorry for the delays - I really didn't want to take over a month putting out this chapter. Unfortunately, things just worked out like that. Some family stuff combined with procrastination and me being unsure of what I wanted from this chapter and trying to do too much with it and, well, here I am.

But I'm happy, mostly because I came up with that Uraraka bit. Honestly one of the best things I came up with for this chapter - that and Yaoyorozu's counters to Bakugou and MIdoriya turning the tides. Honestly Yaoyorozu is both really fun to write and really frustrating.

So Monoma has struck, like a snake in the grass! When I set up a Chekhov's Gun, it will fire, damn it. And it seems like the other teams are doing some stuff as well. Who will ultimately prevail? I couldn't tell you.

There's so much I wanted to do with this chapter, but I feel it would have ultimately made it too bloated. I'm trying to go for shorter chapters and more frequent updates, but that's still hard. At least next chapter will be faster since I've already written so much stuff for it that I thought would go here.

Many thanks to Banchoking for editing this and helping make it presentable. And thank you to my one supporter, M C Purdy for your continued financial support! Don't forget to comment, for comments help me make this fic the very best it can be!

Next time, we will finally finish the second round!